French classical guitarist Gabriel Bianco performs Fantaisie Hongroise (Hungarian Fantasy) from Trois Morceaux op.65 (1857) by Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856). This comes via Siccas Guitars and their YouTube channel and played on a on a 1986 Daniel Friederich classical guitar. Fantastic performance by Bianco with a dramatic flair well-matched to the extroverted composition but not without some beautiful inward-looking Romantic phrasing as well. Such a mix of compositional styles here from Schubert, to Paganini, to Mendelssohn.
Check out Bianco’s recording on Naxos with this note from Graham Wade:
…Hungarian Fantasy, Op. 65, No. 1, represents the virtuosic aspects of Mertz’s instrumental mastery. The first section consists of stately melodic passages progressing to a memorable Adagio maestoso with syncopated descending chords, and a deceptively calm episode marked lugubre (gloomy). This leads to one of the most remarkable examples of nineteenth-century guitar writing, an Allegro vivace section of extraordinary exuberance.
